All week, Giants head coach Brian Daboll was frank about the fact that the Eagles may be the best team in the NFL, and Big Blue had a big task ahead of them to win the game. Consider both the truth, because after Sunday’s 48-22 drubbing at the hands of the Birds, they look like a juggernaut and the Giants clearly, injuries or not, aren’t at that level.
“Tough game, credit to Philly; they’re a good football team over there that did pretty much everything better than we did,” Daboll said after the game. “Losing sucks, because you put a lot into this, but look, we got beat handily in every area. Any time you lose, it’s humbling, and when you lose like this, you own it with no excuses.”
“They’re a really good team, and we could see today we aren’t where we need to be yet,” added quarterback Daniel Jones. “At the same time, we did some things well that we can build off of, so one’s losing confidence or pointing fingers.”
If the Eagles had a weakness on defense, it’s their run defense, which hemorrhaged yards in their lone loss to the Commanders and has given up big plays at times. Saquon Barkley was questionable up until game time, but even with him in a limited capacity, the G-Men had 128 yards on the ground.
The problem? Quarterbacks combined for 66 of those on six carries, one a 32-yard rush on a fourth down late in the fourth by Tyrod Taylor that made Taylor the leading rusher of the day on his first carry.
“I think it was part of just the game plan. Obviously, we got down,” Barkley said. “I know that we were willing to get the rotation going and Gary (Brightwell) and (Matt) Breida went in there and did a good job too.
But we just got down.”
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In the passing game, Jones was 18-of-27 for 169 yards and a touchdown, and Big Blue didn’t turn it over until Taylor fumbled late in the fourth quarter when the game was all but over – but again, Big Blue had just three drives that amounted to three or more first downs, one of which was Taylor’s late TD drive and a second of which was a turnover on downs in the fourth quarter where they were down 20 and had to go for it twice on fourth down just to keep moving.
That’s because the Giants were 2-for-3 on fourth down but 4-for-13 on third down, the latter causing (and, in reality, negating) the former because two of the three tries came on a drive that yielded no points, and they had all of one third down conversion at halftime, when they were down 24-7.
“We can’t afford to get off to a slow start like that. We didn’t do much the first two drives and fell behind,” Jones said. “We have to do something to make a play and get going, and it’s disappointing we weren’t were able to do it. When you get down in a game like that, it can affect how you approach it.”
Even special teams was a mixed bag at best; the Giants blocked a punt that led to a TD, although Eagles punter Arryn Siposs almost got a first down by scooping it up and running, and that came well after the Giants’ own punter, Jamie Gillan, made a blunder with an illegal kick that gave the Birds the ball on the Giants’ 35 and led to a one-play TD drive.
“I think it just slipped through his hands there,” Daboll said. “He tried to save it, but we have to do better there.”
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The Giants also allowed Boston Scott to rumble 66 yards on a kickoff return right after the Giants had cut it to 21-7 after the blocked punt, which set up the Birds for points, and Graham Gano’s three kickoffs were all short on the day.
“That wasn’t planned; we have to do a good job of getting off blocks, running down in our lanes, and making tackles,” Daboll said bluntly.
And on defense, well, the 48 points allowed say it all, as despite recording four sacks, the D yielded over 200 yards both on the ground and in the air, and Julian Love, the only experienced player in the secondary, made a critical mistake on an Eagles fourth-down play that led to a long touchdown pass.
“I think he thought he had him,” Daboll said of Love whiffing on both the ball and DeVonta Smith as he came over the top. “He tried to go high point the ball and I think he thought he had it. I asked him when he came to the bench. DeVonta made a good play, we missed out on it, and they got a TD.”
“Yeah, I made a great break on the ball, thought I had it. And in that situation, either I take him out or just highpoint it,” Love added. “I judged it, I thought, well. And I (said), 'I got to go up and get it.' I read it perfectly I thought; I thought it was slightly overthrown, so I thought I had an easy 'catch it' opportunity. I didn't realize his positioning. I just misjudged. So, in that situation I've got to make contact and go up and get it.”
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Get it is what the Giants didn’t do all day, and now, at 7-5-1, they have the same record as the Commanders as they head into what’s potentially a pre-playoff game for both squads next Sunday night.
To a man, they all say they’ll be ready to bounce back.
“I think any time you lose in this league you have to be resilient, especially with the last few weeks where we haven’t had the results we want,” Daboll said. “You just get to work on the next week. The guys are doing what we ask them to do, we just have to do a little better.”
“We have to be very honest about what it is we didn’t do well today, correct it, and move forward,” Jones added. “Understand no one will feel sorry for us and it’s up to us to fix it. Everything we want to achieve is still out in front of us, and I’m confident we’ll bounce back and have a great week.
And it may be weird to some that they play two of three against the same team – and with the Commanders’ bye this week, they will play two straight against Big Blue – or that the Giants are 1-3-1 since the bye, but to Barkley, none of that matters come Sunday night.
“Most teams go through adversity throughout the season. We started out really hot and now we've got to figure it out and that's life, that's football, you're going to have your ups and downs,” he said. “But it's who you are in those moments, and what better opportunity after a game getting embarrassed than to come in and go against a divisional opponent, go to their home and try to come out with a win.”\
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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